SUMMER IS PRIME TIME ON THE PORCH

Flexible seating, potted plants create a tranquil place to rest for a spell

For a party, you can dress up the porch with fresh pots of bright annual flowers, placing them on the stairs, by the door and even on the dining table, like a bouquet. When you’re decorating a porch for a party, look for unique plants, says Danielle Ernest, a spokeswoman for Proven Winners. Pretty Much Picasso petunias, which have pink flowers edged in flashy chartreuse, or sparkling Cherry Star superbells, with yellow-striped pink blooms, are even more spectacular in a pot than they are in flower beds. Up close on a porch, “people can really see them, and they’ll set you apart because you have a really unique-looking flower,” Ernest says. The flowers can be planted in the garden after the party, or if conditions are right, they can stay on the porch for the rest of the season.

Staddon recommends a drip irrigation system for pots on a porch. Drip systems make watering easy, especially if you have a lot of pots, but keeping a watering can on the porch is a homey touch, and giving plants a splash of water while you admire the flowers and pinch off spent blooms isn’t really hard work.

The flowers or shrubs in pots on a porch can and should change with the seasons. Start afresh from time to time, and don’t waste time with played-out plants.